Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are returning to rubble, devastation and the skeletal remains of loved ones where their homes and communities once stood in the Gaza Strip. An estimated 60% of all buildings are damaged or destroyed, including 92% of all homes, as a result of Israel’s 15-month-long bombing campaign.  

The Lancet, one of the highest-impact academic journals in the world, estimates that Israel has killed more than 186,000 Palestinians since October 2023. Carpet bombings, deliberate starvation, destruction of health facilities and snipering of children have compelled Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the ICJ to accuse Israel of committing genocide. 

And thousands of Palestinians who survived this genocide face torture and sexual abuse in Israeli prisons where systemic assaults by soldiers are well-doucmented, just as they were decades earlier.

In an effort to stop humanitarian aid in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel banned UNRWA on January 30, 2025. UNRWA was created in 1949 to provide life-saving aid for Palestinians who were forcibly removed from their homeland by the creation of Israel. Israeli officials have also falsely accused UNRWA of employing terrorists. They have never provided proof of these claims, and an international investigation in April 2024 found no evidence of terrorism with UNRWA workers. Still, Israeli soldiers have killed at least 375 total aid workers, including 272 from UNRWA alone.

Since the ceasefire began, UNRWA has brought in 60% of the food entering Gaza. And despite Israel’s ban, UNRWA will continue its humanitarian operations in the area as much as possible. Please consider giving to this UN agency, especially in light of Donald Trump’s desire to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip.

Donald Trump appears to have just learned who Frederick Douglass is.

At a roundtable meeting with African American leaders to commemorate Black History Month, Trump said, “I am very proud now that we have a museum on the National Mall where people can learn about Rev. [Martin Luther] King, so many other things, Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who has done an amazing job that is being recognized more and more, I noticed.”

Good news, Frederick Douglass, you’re finally famous! If a 70-year-old billionaire who appears to be the embodiment of YouTube comments in human form actually acknowledges your existence, then you’ve made it bigly, right?

Common knowledge to the rest of us recalls Douglass being a freed slave from the 19th century whose famous speeches and writings helped persuade thousands to abolish slavery across the country. Most, if not all of us, have read at least one of his books or speeches sometime in our education.

Or, at the very least, most of us are aware that a man named Frederick Douglass existed sometime in American history a long time ago, if nothing else.

Trump clearly didn’t stay awake in his high school history classes. So why is this so bad?

Because he didn’t stop there.

At this meeting dedicated to recognizing the triumphs and ongoing challenges the black community has faced since this country’s inception, the leader of the free world took time out of this humbling occasion to complain about the free press in the U.S.

Trump is referring to a tweet CNN reporter Zeke Miller posted saying the bust of MLK was removed from the Oval Office. Miller quickly corrected his mistake within a few hours of the first tweet. And that should’ve been the end of it.

But Trump just couldn’t live and let live. So instead of smiling politely and listening to the concerns of these national leaders, Trump showed his true colors.

And they’re not red, white and blue.

Shari Rose

Shari Rose

Owner of Blurred Bylines 💖💜💙

I created Blurred Bylines in an effort to bring stories from marginalized perspectives into the national conversation. As a former copy editor at the largest newspapers in Arizona and Colorado, I’ve seen first-hand the potential of accurate and accessible information to change minds and affect national policy. 

My stories focus on individuals fighting for justice and their own rights as Americans, survivors of violent crime who rebuilt their lives after tragedy, shifting political trends that seek to strip the LGBTQ+ community and other minority groups of their freedoms, and forgotten figures in U.S. history whose fights for equality persist today.

Through writing these articles, I stumbled upon the power of search engine optimization (SEO) to attract interested audiences to my writing. In addition to the ad-free and paywall-free stories I write at Blurred Bylines, I also perform SEO services for businesses, nonprofits, and fellow freelancers around the country so they can grow their organizations through search engines. 

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